Oh ho! You expected me to cover Stars Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back immediately after talking about Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, didn’t you? But surprise! In between rewatching the two films I checked out an old documentary on the Star Wars phenomenon, and I thought it was interesting enough to cover. While many documentaries cover their subjects long after the fact, this one stands out for coming out in September of 1977, four months after the film’s debut. So this is not only informative, but it’s a look into a world where the subtitle “Episode IV – A New Hope: wasn’t even a thing yet. Well, I at least find that interesting.
Opening on August 3, 1997, we see C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader at an event outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles where they leave their footprints in concrete and sign their names (certainly helps that the concrete is dated). Then we kick into the framing device, which is Threepio and Artoo commenting on the documentary covering the making of Star Wars both as if it were a film but also something that actually happened to them. We get behind the scenes interviews with crew and cast, including George Lucas talking about why he thinks Star Wars was so successful:
“I think one of the key factors in the success is that it’s a positive film, it has heroes and villains, and that it essentially is a fun movie to watch. It’s been a long time since people have been able to go to the movies and see a sort of straightforward, wholesome, fun adventure.”
– George Lucas
…hm. Not sure I agree with that last part, but whatever, I don’t know exactly what the film scene was like back in 1977. The point is that Lucas modeled Star Wars on films he watched when he was younger with the documentary highlighting swashbuckling pirate and gunfightin’ cowboy films, as well as name dropping the Flash Gordon serials. This also covers several inspirations Lucas used, including WWII aerial dogfights–as seen on film–for the space battle where the Rebels attack the Death Star. And speaking of inspirations, turns out Chewbacca and Indiana Jones have something in common–they’re both characters loosely based on Indiana, Lucas’ malamute. Oh yes, that line by Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was more or less true!
The behind the scenes bits were filled with easily available information–the desert scenes of Tatooine were filmed in Tunisia–and more obscure details–25 different models of droids were made for the movie. Many of the droids were nightmares on set due to them constantly breaking down, and we get a montage of several incidents including C-3PO’s actor, Anthony Daniels, falling down and being unable to pick himself up due to the limitations of the suit. They also touch on the computer-generated techniques used when filming the Death Star battle, the lightsabers’ glowing effect, the stop-motion used in the “chess” game between Chewbacca and Artoo, and how some backgrounds were actually glass paintings. Why glass? Because instead of it being a true background, the glass was put over the scene with the main focus left clear/unpainted. The wide shot of Obi-Wan–who is referred to several times in the documentary as “Obi-Wan Ben Kenobi” as if “Ben” was his middle name–is the example they highlighted. It’s a pretty cool effect!
There are also several interviews with the cast and crew. It’s predominantly how excited they all were to work on the film, but what caught my attention was talk of a possible sequel. Very little details were given, except Carrie Fisher said she had heard about there being the possibility of an ice planet as well as a jungle planet, accurately describing Hoth and getting pretty damn close to Dagobah. Hamill, Fisher, Ford, and Lucas all chime in on the love triangle between Luke, Leia, and Han, and Mark’s line that Leia would be a chump if she went for Han Solo implies the revelation in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi that Luke and Leia are siblings (spoilers!) wasn’t common knowledge. Or maybe he’s just good at not spoiling the plot? It’s hard to tell for certain, but considering it’s likely that Luke wasn’t Vader’s son at that point in the development process, the family tree probably wasn’t fully mapped out.
Oh, yeah, I don’t believe Lucas when he says that he always knew Luke was Vader’s son. Bold claim, right? Well, I have some evidence to back it up. That revelation is the big twist in Empire and reveals that Obi-Wan lied to Luke about Vader killing the boy’s father. Red herring, or was that the truth as of filming? The first concrete evidence we have of the connection comes from a draft of Empire Strikes Back dated April 1, 1978, almost a year after this documentary–and the first film–came out. And while the documentary doesn’t really cover how little people knew about Darth Vader at that point. Hell, in the battle between him and Obi-Wan, the old Jedi mentor refers to his formal pupil as “Darth,” which led a lot of people at the time to think that was just his name. First name Darth, last name Vader. Why not, right? The fuck is a “Darth” in 1977? There’s the idea that “Vader” was based on the Dutch word for “father,” but Lucas didn’t share that tidbit anywhere until after The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980. While I can’t 100% say it wasn’t always the case, there are enough little details that make me think Luke’s connection to Vader came after the success of the first film.
I also keep thinking about the tone of the piece. The documentary marvels at the smash hit of “the phenomenally successful” Star Wars was and how its popularity spread around the world, as best evidenced by a disco remix of the main theme. Ah, smells like vintage 70’s… But it also highlights the struggles the actors and crew went through filming the movie, albeit leaving out certain less glamorous details. At one point it shows the 18th take of a scene where the heroes are running down a hallway in the Death Star, only for the take to be ruined because the microphone was in shot. While the main cast is laughing at the failure, there’s a real sense of frustration behind it. Hell, Sir Alec Guinness’ interview is on paper very tactful, but behind-the-scenes knowledge that he hated working on the movies changes the context and it instead comes off that he’s barely containing his disdain for the overabundance of special effects, hoping they add depth to his character he thought was lacking. Back in the framing device, Threepio even has a throwaway line saying, “Sometimes they treat actors just like droids.” How am I to interpret that except that the actors were overworked and mistreated? Who ever could’ve guessed making movies could be messy? Shocking, truly.
But really, the most prophetic thing in this documentary comes at the very end, cutting back to R2-D2 and C-3PO. When the little droid asks Threepio a question, the protocol droid responds, “‘Where will it all end?’ Perhaps, Artoo, it will never end.” You guys had no idea how right you were…
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